Thursday, October 1, 2026
Sisters on the track Breanne Barnett, 14, Jahzara Emeli, 14, Jillian Rickford, 14, and Sariah Doresca, 14, have learned trust each other while in the heat of the moment. Relying on each other in relay after relay, the girls on the Baldwin High School freshmen team and V-Tesse Track Club have broken national records all while maintaining a 95 average in their classes. With some in the past participating in the Junior Olympics, this all-star group’s season goal is to break the New York State 4x2 record and cement themselves in NY track history.
The girls know how demanding the sport of track can be, using their bodies as instruments in the sport instead of a ball or other object. They have had to learn to play on each other’s strengths and weaknesses to form their dominating freshmen team known and feared in the track world for the last four years.
Emeli, who made it to the Junior Olympics last year, qualifying even with a hamstring injury, said understanding each other has made the group go far, “Running the relay is a lot of pressure because you want to run your best and not let your team down, and then in turn, you know the other people on the team are running their best to not let you down.”
However, she noted that’s how the team gets the best results, “We perform our best when we work together, get the baton, practice, and have that confidence that we accomplished what we can.” Emeli first joined the school’s PAL in 2014 and V-Tesse in the spring of 2017--her goal is to become a professional runner.
Running since she was five, Doresca, the V-Tesse coach’s daughter, has already had an extensive track history. Racing at Icahn Stadium in Manhattan, winning her first All American title in 2019, and making new records on the track with her friends the last four years they been together.
Since moving to the high school, the team has risen “to a new level,” Doresca said. The team made strides recently getting second in the 4x2 race March 5 that welcomed runners older than the freshmen. Doresca explained how being a freshman and getting second is an accomplishment, “It felt great having a good personal record split as freshmen.” One of her long-term goals is to run on the college level, learning now how to balance school and track.
“We’re focused on what we have to do,” Rickford described of the girl’s tenacity during the relays. “It’s really in the moment, we’re waiting for the time down to the seconds.” In what sometimes seems like life and death, Rickford said what’s made the girls a force in the track world is their commitment to practice, which they attend both for the high school and V-Tesse club. Thinking of school beyond Baldwin, she would like to obtain a scholarship to attend a division one school, which is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics.
Last but not running least, Barnett usually is the team member running the first leg in the relay, passing opponents to propel the team into a good position and ready to pass the baton to who’s next in line. Running as fast as the girls, do it’s hard for them to reconcile just how they’re moving till afterwards.
“When you’re running you don’t feel like you’re going that fast, but when I saw the time after I went ‘wow’,” Barnett said of the first time she saw a clip of herself running a 25 stride. With a lifelong legacy on the mind, the team’s goal is to break the New York State 4x2 record. “If we broke the state record it would be cool to say that we broke it,” Barnett concluded.
Founder of V-Tesse Gregory Doresca is in his 11th year of coaching up-and-coming athletes. Seeing something especially special in this batch of girls, Doresca said the camaraderie is one of the best parts of bringing the girls together.
“I’ve been blessed, because these ladies are really dedicated… they’ve been sticking together like a sisterhood [and] that’s what I enjoy,” Doresca told the Herald. Stressing not only kinship and competition, but he also takes especial notice of academics, saying at the end of the season during an awards ceremony the girl with the best grade point average gets the biggest trophy.
Doresca emphasizes academics to the girls to help them unlock future prospects. He tells the girls during practice, “When opportunity knocks at your door, I don’t want your grades to be the reason you can’t do that opportunity.” He also lets them know that whether they succeed or fail they’re “going to bounce back from those failures…because tomorrow’s a new day [and] great will never be ignored.”
Doresca said when he was growing up in Brooklyn his coach “was like a second father” to him. His experience in traveling for track and being able to attend college, which he may have missed out on if he didn’t stick to running and academics, is why he’s “giving back” to the new generation.
